Meeting Abstract
Neonicotinoid insecticides are used in worldwide commercial farming to control pests and have recently garnered attention for their potentially adverse effects on honey bees. While the relative doses of pesticides encountered in agriculture are typically below the designated LD50, assessment of the sublethal effects could reveal detrimental effects to honey bee foraging behavior. Acetamiprid, a known neonicotinoid pesticide used in farming, acts as a neurological agonist to acetylcholine with a high affinity to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in invertebrates. Therefore, we expected sublethal doses of acetamiprid to result in impaired motor coordination and central nervous system (CNS) processing. For a comprehensive analysis of the physiological effects of acetamiprid at sublethal doses on honey bees, we tested the motor coordination and sucrose sensitivity of the honey bee. Captured bees were restrained and fed 10 uL of a designated acetamiprid solution in 1.5 M sucrose, with treatment doses ranging from 1/5 to 1/1000 of the LD50. Control treatments were fed 10uL of the 1.5 M sucrose stock solution. Subsequent tests for motor coordination and sucrose sensitivity were performed 4 hours after ingestion, with motor coordination tests assessing the proboscis extension reflex (PER), abdomen movement, leg movement, and wing movement. Bees did not differ in motor coordination and sucrose sensitivity among doses. These results show that acetamiprid, even at the most concentrated sublethal dose tested, had no significant effect on physiological and neurological characteristics fundamental to honey bee foraging behavior.
